N-peters



(No Model.) I. SMITH.

Button.

ISAAC SMITH, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND SAMUELPECK 85 CO., OF SAME PLACE.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,929, dated November30, 1880.

Application filed August 17, 1880. (No model.) f

To all whom it may concern: p

Be it known that I, ISAAC SMITH, of New Haven, in the county of NewHaven and Statel of Connecticut, haveinvented a new Improvement inButtons; and I do hereby declare the following', when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which 1o said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, aperspective view; Fg.2, acentral section; Fig. 3, a sectionof eye part detached. This invention relates to an improvement in themanufacture of that class'of buttons which are made from composition ormaterial made or pressed in molds, which is hardened after being'shaped.

In the usual construction of this class of buttons they have beenpierced at the center for sewing` to the garment, or have been made withmetal eyes. In the first case the method is objectionable, because fordresses or nice work the thread is exposed and the fastening disguresthe face of the button.

ter case the button is adapted only tofspecial uses or heavy work, sothat for flne work covered buttons are preferred because of their exiblefastening, and for the neat and iinished appearance which can be givento the button.

The object of this invention is to provide a molded button with afastening` presenting all the advantages of fabricated buttons, andovercoming all objections to molded buttons; and the invention consistsin the manufacture vof molded buttons by tirst inclosing the eye in ahard material, next .placing it in the mold, and then pressing plasticcompound into the mold upon the eye in the process of shaping thebutton, all as fully describe( .The molds for forming the buttons may beof any of the known or desirable. shapes in general outline. Previous tomolding I prepare an eye of iexible material, preferably as shown inFig. 3. This consists of a cup-shaped disk, a, with a cent-ralperforation, b. Into this I place a fabricated or iiexible material,with the center drawn through the perforation b, to form afasteniiig-projection, c, substan- 5o tially li he the fasteningemployed in fabricated or covered buttons. On this fabric I place asecond disk, d, and close the parts sufficiently to secure themtogether, or prevent the material from which the button is made frombeing forced into the projection c; then place the fastening device soformed centrally in the under portion of the mold; then place upon itthe material of which the body of the button is to be made, and press ithard thereon in 6 the usual manner for making molded buttons. The bodyof the button thus pressed unites with the fastening device by anyirregularity therein or adhesion thereto, and when the material ishardened the button is complete.

v,There being' no perfbration through the button the face may beornamented to any desirable extent, and the button attached to thegarment in the samemanner as covered buttons, and thus present all theadvantages 7o of both covered and hard-material buttons.

I do not wish to be understood as confining myself' to this particularconstruction of the fabric or flexible eye, as it may be made in variousways, the method described and shown being` sufficient to enable thoseskilled in the art of button-making to construct molded buttons with aiiexible eye.

I do not broadly claim a button of hard material provided with aflexible eye, as such, l 8o ain aware, is not new.

I claim- The herein-described improvement in the manufacture of moldedbuttons, consisting in first inc-losing the eye in a hard material, nextplacing it inthe mold, and then pressing plastic compound into the moldupon the eye, tllus uniting the body and flexible eye in the process ofshaping the button.

ISAAC SMITH. Witnesses:

J. H. SHUMWAY, L. D. ROGERS.

